Playing Casual Video Games Between Work Reduces Stress, Says Study

Stress at work is a complaint faced by most employees. That playing video games between spells of work could be a stress-buster, according to a recent study, could be sweet music to most ears. Indeed, that is what Michael Rupp at the University of Central Florida, US and his team has concludedin an article published recently in The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

The study was carried out on 66 participants who were given a computer-based task to induce cognitive fatigue. They were then given a five-minute rest break. During the break, participants played a casual video game (called Sushi Cat), participated in a guided relaxation activity, or sat quietly in the testing room without using a phone or computer. The participants’ stress level, mood and cognitive performance were measured throughout the experiment.

The video game players reported feeling better after taking the break. Those who participated in the guided relaxation activity saw reductions in negative affect and distress while those who took a silent rest break reported that they felt less engaged with work and experienced worry as a result.

The study concluded that playing a casual video game, even briefly, can restore individuals’ affective abilities, making it a suitable activity to restore mood in response to stress. However, future research is needed to find activities capable of cognitive restoration.

Video games, and videos in general, have become increasingly pervasive in recent years. Video games had reached their heyday during the PC era, but have proven to me remarkably resilient even in the age of smartphones. Smart phones have much smaller screen sizes than PCs, so predominantly visual activities, such as games or watching videos are often not as enjoyable on them. Videos appear to have adapted well to the short screen format — video apps seem to be doing fine on smartphones thanks to innovations such as faster load times and adaptations to the small screen. (watch how to Set Custom Thumbnail Image for Your iPhone Video). Games have done well too, and the smartphone era has spawned many successful games including Candy Crush and Angry Birds.

It’s not hard to imagine how these games have made their way into the workplace. The benefits of playing video games at work needs further research, as it will have wide ramifications because work stress is all pervasive. A 2013 surveyof 1,019 employed Americans showed that 83% reported being stressed out by at least one thing about their jobs. Poor compensation and an unreasonable workload were the top stressors. In India, 46% of the workforce in organisations suffered from some or the other form of stress, according to Optum, which provides employee assistance programmes to companies. The results were from a 2016 study with a sample size of 200,000 employees belonging to over 30 large employers.

For overworked employees that lack the time to enjoy video games, there are some natural products that are becoming increasingly popular for treating stress and anxiety. CBD derived from hemp oil is one of the best compounds now on the market to combat burnout and is growing to become one of the highest grossing herbal supplements on the market as reviewed below:

“Perhaps the most common reason why people are getting into CBD oil is due to its ability to get rid of any kind of anxiety, stress, and pain. But these are just some of the disorders that this product can cure.” Source: https://www.anabolichealth.com/cbd-oil-for-sale/

Simple and innovative stress-busters have a huge potential in improving employee morale, job satisfaction and work productivity. And if video games can fill this gap, employees would simply love it.